Cynthia Ellwood, Ph.D.

Cynthia Ellwood
Cynthia Ellwood, Ph.D.Marquette University

Schroeder Complex, 116F

MilwaukeeWI53201United States of America(414) 288-6749
Curriculum Vitae

Clinical Associate Professor, Directory of Graduate Studies

Educational Policy and Leadership

Cynthia Ellwood’s research and teaching focus on leading systemic school transformation for justice and opportunity for all. Her book with co-author Sharon Chubbuck, Beautiful Struggle: How One American High School Took On Systemic Racism (2026, University of Chicago Press), offers an in-depth examination of a school that has made extraordinarily deep, enduring change for racial equity. Chubbuck and Ellwood’s research received support from the Spencer Foundation.

Having previously served the children and families of the Milwaukee Public Schools for 29 years as a teacher of English and bilingual social studies, district director of education, principal, and regional executive, she currently focuses on preparing educators from all school sectors for the demanding and meaningful work of school and district leadership. With colleagues, she redesigned the Marquette University Educational Leadership Program to reflect the imperatives and complexity of such work. She served two terms as Chair of the University Committee on Teaching.

Dr. Ellwood was a founding editor of Rethinking Schools: An Urban Educational Journal. She served as Co-Principal Investigator of a six-year $15 million grant from the National Science Foundation focused on advancing equity and opportunity in K-12 mathematics and science in the Milwaukee Public Schools, among many other funded projects. For her leadership, she was awarded the Norman H. Gill Award for Individual Excellence, named a Master Urban Principal and Wallace Foundation Fellow, and featured in Principals Who Make a Difference on Milwaukee Public Television. She continues to collaborate pro bono on multiple community-based projects serving the children and families of Milwaukee.

Degrees Held

  • Ph.D., Social Sciences of Education, Stanford University
  • M.A., History, Stanford University
  • M.A., Education, Stanford University
  • B.A., Communications, Stanford University

Courses Taught

  • The Principalship
  • Politics and Community in Educational Organizations
  • Instructional Leadership
  • Practicum in the Principalship
  • Master’s Capstone: Current Issues in Educational Policy and Leadership

Research Interests

  • Developing in leaders the capacity to cross boundaries of race and class to build community and serve all students well
  • Leadership to transform schools for justice and opportunity
  • Young people as agents and leaders of change
  • Creating culturally responsive systems of high demand/ high support at the district, school, and classroom levels